On 25/06/2014 sbm wrote:>In other news, I got my P2 motorcycle license yesterday. Automatic transmission>restriction gone, I can now ride a real motorcycle as my mate would say,>I already sold the scooter.

Post edit:
Re 'other news':
I notice on another thread that technogeekery is changing bikes...

> KTM SM950 is for sale, as Iím after an adventure bike for more dirt-oriented use. I bought it new in 2008, and have enjoyed 6 years of trouble free, fun riding.
~> >Nothing to be done to her, 7 months rego, just buy & ride off into the sunset.

Hmm.
I reckon a change of tyres would likely meet your new need unless you have goat-tracks in mind.
As testimony, I have not long back fitted full knobbies, and have recently been enjoying local snow covered red clay tracks. My bike is possibly heavier than yours due fit-out, but is basically the same machine...

Re your comment of 'productive life' in that link, I disagree, and there are other posts on that website attesting to 100,000+ km bikes of identical pedigree efffectively being "just run in" ...
;-)

Came across a golden-oldie ...
(Not sure it is favourable to Honda riders these days? ... ~> especially seeing how Marc Marquez is blitzing the MotoGP scene at the moment!)
Hmm.
Bear with me, I will get the code correct sooner or later...

(Three rubbish attempts at posting a vid link deleted here.)

Post edit re ajf post under the floorboards;
Yep, that is the one.
Thanks ajfclark, I shall be studying how you did that closely!
======================================================

Re the vid;
I reckon that even simey would appreciate the footie style 'don't argue' moves (a nice backhander or two at 30 secs), the blond dancer-woman pulls on the pseudo-drummer...
Hehx3

On 15/07/2014 Capt_mulch wrote:>Hmmm, how about Honda DRIVERS? - scored a great second hand CRV that is>doing us just fine - it's even got a camping table built into the boot!!>
What about them? They are cages aren't they?
~> You need to start your own thread if you want an excuse to froth about 'mokaCARS'...
Heh, heh, heh.

M9 - I just pulled the ad. Couldn't do it. Got quite excited about shiny new pretenders, and then took my bike out for a long ride - and I just can't let her go. She would sell for about $7500, and I can't think of another bike I'd prefer at $12,000.

So we've kissed and made up, and I've promised to buy her lots of shiny things, and we are embarking on a second honeymoon. I came around to your view on the knobblies, so a set of TKC80s are on order. and if they don't do the trick, I'll probably go the whole hog and have a 19"/17" wheelset made up custom.

Meanwhile - she is in at the auto trimmers getting the seat re-shaped (in tasteful ORANGE), I've raised the bars 30mm, Fastway pegs coming (much bigger, and 15mm lower) all of which will make her roomier, and easier for me to stand. Heated grips, new mirrors, a battery tender, centre stand, OEM luggage racks and soft panniers (Wolfman, probably), a bigger foot for the side stand, and a blingy orange replacement for my front brake fluid reservoir which has gone all mottledy-piggledy.

Nothing like make-up farkling... I'll post some pics later (if they don't violate the site's ToS)

Good move keepin' the old bike. It was very high on my list . Consider Mitas tyres i have E-07s on my Tiger they are very good tyre. They work well in the dirt, highway and twisties. Lowering the pegs rather raising the bars is also not bad idea when combine with bar risers. I have Oxford heated grips and they work better than my mate's Beemer ones. Looking forward to the pics.

On 31/07/2014 hangdog wrote:>Good move keepin' the old bike. It was very high on my list . Consider>Mitas tyres i have E-07s on my Tiger they are very good tyre. They work>well in the dirt, highway and twisties. Lowering the pegs rather raising>the bars is also not bad idea when combine with bar risers. I have Oxford>heated grips and they work better than my mate's Beemer ones. Looking forward>to the pics.

Mitas E O7's.
I rate them as 50/50 %ers tar/dirt, and they wear surprisingly well. My last set are 80% shot, and so far I have got 13,500 km out of them.

Currently I am running the E10's and they are disappearing disappointingly fast (1500 km and rear is probably 40% shot!), even though I have tried to ride mainly on dirt roads & tracks since fitting them...
I rate them as excellent off road tyres, that are still rated for highway use on large dual sport machines, but reckon the cost of wearing them out in that fashion is prohibitive, so while they still have life left in them, I will change back to my old E07's for general use and the run up to the Australian Climbing Festival. The E10's will be set aside for a desert trip in the future...

Heated grips are a must in my part of the world for any extended winter riding...

Hangdog, is yours the XC version? One of my best mates has one, and it gets along well, and even better since he fitted E07's!

Here he is at last Alpine Rally complete with fishing rod!

For interest sake my bike in background has new crashbar-mounted panniers fitted for carrying climbing gear, but on that trip it was for other luxuries ;-)

On 31/07/2014 technogeekery wrote:>M9 - I just pulled the ad. Couldn't do it.

I don't think you will regret this action. What we have are classics of their genre, and I see them retaining good value into the future.

>(snip)>centre stand,
I am surprised it doesn't already have one.

>a bigger foot for the side stand,
I carry a metal plate for throwing on soft ground to put the sidestand down on.

>I'll post some pics later
Like Hangdog, I am looking forward to them.

Mitas don't make a size to fit. Bike runs 120/70/18 front and 180/55/18 rear rims. The only dualsport tyres that I have found are the Contis. The trail attack is a good 90/10 tyre, I believe, and the TKC80 is the go to for 60/40 road dirt.

Picked up my bike from the trimmers yesterday - ooooh very nice - orange seat looks awesome. Now to arrange a 500 km day to test the smiley cheek factor. Pics to follow (or the bike, not the smiley cheeks) when the rest of the bits are on.

Yes mine is the Tiger XC. Gets along very nicely even with the 21inch front. I am very happy with the E-07s. As good as the Heidenaus that my friends run on a F800 Beemer and another Tiger XC
I am just fitting a Spot Tracker 3 to it right now. Just in case something happens on the big days out.

On 1/08/2014 hangdog wrote:>Yes mine is the Tiger XC. Gets along very nicely even with the 21inch front.>I am very happy with the E-07s. As good as the Heidenaus that>my friends run on a F800 Beemer and another Tiger XC>I am just fitting a Spot Tracker 3 to it right now. Just in case something happens on the big days out.

Back in '79 I had a Honda 500XLS and it had a 23" front wheel.
It was bloody brilliant for all on and (particularly) off road, type usage as far as I was concerned. It would seem that history disagrees with my assessment; otherwise that rim size would be standard fare today?

My experience with the early Spot Trackers was a mixed bag affair. Back then they did not always update, and certainly 'dropped' the occasional location reading and this in open country not affected by trees and hills. Hopefully the latest version of same has addressed those problems.

>My experience with the early Spot Trackers was a mixed bag affair. Back>then they did not always update, and certainly 'dropped' the occasional>location reading and this in open country not affected by trees and hills.>Hopefully the latest version of same has addressed those problems.

Yes i hope so as i bought the latest version because of the improvements and it cost me $165 per year for the service.>>>@ techno>18" front? I thought they were 19"...

According to the internet they are 17" I and the same problem with tyres on my Cagiva Navigator. (Btw a brilliant bike for the mature gent and the great grandad of the Multistrada)>

Re; Problems getting tyres.
Back in 2004 + for a few years after, I had similar probs getting serious off-road tread for the KTM, due its wider than standard 18 inch rear. These days I am glad to say that I am spoilt for choice, as manufacturers have jumped aboard the 'adventure' bandwagon.

On 1/08/2014 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:>@ techno>18" front? I thought they were 19"...>

Sorry - I meant 120/70/17.

Got the TKC80s on - bugger how they ride, they look so butch I'm a bit scared to go near the bike in case it bites. Had a brilliant day yesterday bolting on bits - pannier racks, a bling replacement for my brake fluid reservoir cap (old one was melting, that fluid is evil), a shiny orange extender for the side stand, and grip warmers! Woohoo, no more frozen fingers. Very impressed with myself for making it work first go. Less impressed that the only spare ACC outlet was not switched (the switched one is connected to my GPS) and I'm bound to leave it on one day and drain the battery. Wasn't game to splice in to the switched cable, so I'll leave it until I really piss myself off by stranding myself somewhere, and then do it properly.

Photos of the adventurebeast to follow once I go somewhere photogenic.

On 11/08/2014 technogeekery wrote:>Had a brilliant day yesterday bolting on bits -(snip), and grip warmers! Woohoo, no more frozen fingers.>Very impressed with myself for making it work first go. Less impressed>that the only spare ACC outlet was not switched (the switched one is connected>to my GPS) and I'm bound to leave it on one day and drain the battery.>Wasn't game to splice in to the switched cable, so I'll leave it until>I really piss myself off by stranding myself somewhere, and then do it>properly.

Wire it into the ignition, & that way it can only be on when the bike is 'on'.

You do not want to be in the back of the boonies (no matter how much climbing and bivvy gear you have), if your batt goes flat!
~> Believe me, bump starting a 950 with a depleted battery is near impossible...

On the topic of frozen fingers.
Heated handgrips on really cold mornings / evenings, are not enough!
There have been times when I have worn silk glove liners + wool glove oliners + usual 'warm' winter gauntlets, ... and after a half hour my fingers can still be cold, even though the palms are sweaty from the heated grips.

Back to heated grips.
A good trick is to wrap as much insulation tape as you can fit on the handlebar and still (with difficulty), manage to get the clutch side 'grip' back on, over the heat-items on top of that additional insulation.
Even if you do this, on really cold mornings after a half hour riding, you will notice that the handlebar is a heat-sink on the clutch side, compared to a tropical handlebar on the throttle side...

Thanks ajf. It is good to know that luck can go either way, though it too often seems to go the negative way!
It is a bit strange that the motorcyclist travelling at speed was so committed to the line, and didn't try evasive action prior the collision; as even if the speed was too great to stop, there was still room to go wide and take the gap on the left of the car.

Reminds me of an accident I saw take place in front of me many years ago.
Was travelling north doing the 60 Mph speed limit in a short wheel base 4WD on old Pacific Hwy not far south of Taree, when I noticed a motorcyclist approaching the car behind me from behind it, at speed, & thought this bike is going to take both of us at once...
I looked ahead at the traffic I was gaining on myself, and noticed second car ahead was slowing with indicator on to turn right into a roadside stop, but had to prop due to oncoming traffic.

The timing was such that the bike flashed past my door and found the car in front of me braking heavily, and bike was going too fast to stop with it, so tried to swerve left around it.
The rider collided with the rear left corner of car and cartwheeled over the top and further cartwheeled on up the road, with motorcycle doing similar in the table-drain.
We all stopped and attended the motorcyclist. It wasn't pretty as he had one leg out at a badly un-natural angle and bone visible. The others seemed competent at first aid, so I went back and turned the motor cycle off, stood it up, and closed its fuel tap.
I flagged down other motorists for a bit, so they avoided the mess, and one of them continued on to get help.

It seemed enough witnesses (all involved) remained, so I continued on with my surfing trip...
No mobile phones back then either, so it would have been a wait for the ambo to arrive...

When I saw mikl's link, I too thought of Marco Simoncelli.
The big difference between those two MotoGP rider incidents is that MM didn't have a posse breathing down his tailpipe at the time.
Still, there is no denying the young lad sure can ride a motorbike, and it is a shame that history did not throw him and Casey Stoner into the top class at the same time.

Marco's helmet coming off reminds me of another accident I arrived at almost immediately after an incident on Pittwater Road, Mona Vale one night.
It too was ugly, as the rider died, due loss of brain matter from abrasion on the road...
Yellow gook isn't the best to see, and I was pleased when the ghoulies attended and body-bagged him.

Is anyone interested in making it a group climber-rider-attending affair?

I have already booked my 3 day pass - early bird ticket, and will go up on Thursday 16th so as not to miss anything on Friday 17th when it starts. Likewise I will be returning on Monday 20th after it ends.

For those travelling from other directions who might like to link up with other climber-riders, at this stage I expect to have biker-climber mates from Orange NSW, and Brisbane Qld attending...

I have not planned where I/we will be camping at the event yet...
Last time they had camping at the Katoomba Public School oval, but so far this does not seem to be an option for this event.

I have already swapped out my knobbies for what is left of another almost depleted set of tyres to waste on the tar involved in this trip...
;-)